West Bengal eyes 5 logistics hubs

KOLKATA: The Bengal government is working on an integrated logistics sector development policy and expects to roll it out in the next few months. It will be among very few states to have such a policy and the government feels this will be a sunrise sector for Bengal, which shares three international borders and has 10 landlocked states as its neighbours.

During the 13th CII Logistics Colloquium, state finance and industries minister Amit Mitra said the logistics sector in Bengal was worth $20 billion. He said the draft policy had been prepared and the government had sought suggestions from stakeholders.

According to Mitra, the WBIDC is now actively focusing on the logistics sector. Kolkata alone has 14 million (1.4 crore) consumers besides over 46 million (4.6 crore) from the northeast, and this makes Bengal an attractive market. The minister said Siliguri, Durgapur, Dankuni, Malda and Tajpur had been identified as logistics hubs.

“We are looking at a tea logistics hub in Siliguri. Durgapur can be the same for chemicals and fertilis-ers. Tajpur, where a port wi-ll come up, may be a hub for petrochemicals while Dankuni can be a logistics hub for perishable products such as vegetables and processed food,” he added.

Mitra said the state had attracted big investments in logistics. “Flipkart is investing in logistics in Kalyani . There is major investment by ESR in Sankrail too,” he said, urging CII to join the logistics hub initiative. “We have land ready in Haldia and North Bengal. Apex chambers such as CII should come forward with proposals.”